They are used like buses, picking people up and dropping them off, but they act a bit differently. The biggest difference, and the one I don't think many Americans could handle, is that they do not arrive or leave on any kind of schedule. If you go to an area that is sort of a 'hub' and not just a drop off point, then the chochos will wait unti they are full.... So on my first adventure, we loaded onto the chocho, and waited... and waited... and waited... Waiting for 18 people can take a long time! Once the chocho was loaded, we pulled out and headed toward our destination. Maybe... 20 minutes later we arrived at our destination. You pay once the chocho is in motion, and the students I was with were kind enough to pay my fare. Only on the ride back did I realize just how much it cost to ride one of these things. I'm sure the fare is different depending on how far you are going... but this only cost 20 pesewas... = 14 cents!!!!! You cannot get ANYTHING in the US for 14 cents! Maybe a single jolly rancher, or a tootsie roll ;) Here you can get a ride!
The other optional mode of transportation is to use a taxi. Taxis here are crazy, just like they are anywhere I suppose, but here all driving is crazy. (More comments below..) My first taxi ride was from the community we live in - Asofan, (a small area near Ofankor) to the highway to get picked up by the rest of our group. This little taxi... was lucky to still be running. I've never seen a car in such poor condition! I sat in the front, and there literally wasn't a handle on the door.. No outside door handle, no inside door handle. When we met our group, the taxi driver leaned across me and dug under the fabric to hit a little latch to open my door. Death trap for sure. I had the distinct thought that, if anything were to happen, if there were any kind of accident, I would die in this car. Amusingly enough, this did not cause alarm, but was simply a matter of fact. There was no way around it. I wish all the luck to that driver for the rest of his days, and feel better knowing that if he were to attempt to drive that vehicle on the freeway, he would be pulled over and not allowed to drive on the road.
I have been in 2 other taxis since (one of the family/company's 2 cars broke down, so we've been taking the taxi home). However, these taxis are MUCH better, and we are using taxi drivers that they already know are much safer and better drivers than the average one you may happen to pick up. :)
The driving here... is similar to driving in South America. Kind of. People honk their horns MUCH more often here, though it is rarely in anger compared to in the US. Honking can just be letting people know they should move over if they are walking in the street (they're already walking on the side, but need to move further over) or can even be to get someone's attention that they want to buy something from. People drive in any kind of space they can find - regardless of if there is a lane, if they can actually fit in the space they are trying to move into, and regardless of the road conditions on that particular space of road (unless it is especially bad.)
There are also stop signs which are always ignored, and only a few traffic lights. Due to people creating their own lanes all the time, there are frequently small traffic jams with some central point of cars all facing each other and unable to move forward. When this happens, someone will get out of their car, and direct the vehicles to move forward, turn, etc. until somehow or another, the knot works itself out, and traffic continues on.
They may not be the craziest drivers in the world - South America still holds that title in my book - but Ghanaians could manage to drive on any road in the world. No number of potholes, ravines, puddles, mudslicks, garbage piles, termite hills, goats, chickens, children, or salespeople could keep a Ghanaian from getting through a road. The roads here are horrible. That horrible dreaded scraping sound on the under side of your car is reasonably rare considering the roads, but this is only due to years of practice in spotting the one possible 'safe' route through poor roads. That is one thing I keep realizing (and have probably already even commented on) is just how big a blessing roads are! A reasonable road system would save this country so much money!!! The cost of transporting people and goods would all fall dramatically. People could have more time do actually do things other than sit in cars, taxis, and chochos their whole life. So much opportunity. The community we are living in is apparently talking about trying to pave their own roads. The government will never get to them, they aren't a main road or in the capital. And the construction that is going on is slow.
Alright, time to actually work this morning :) Hopefully I'll have more to write!
No comments:
Post a Comment